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Which would you choose?
High salary and high cost living or low salary and low cost of living??

Pro for higher salary/cost-of-living:
If you're disciplined and creative, you can potentially save more with a higher salary (things online cost the same for everyone)
Pro for lower salary/cost-of-living:
Bigger bang for your buck, housing/land-wise.

There are many variables here, so I would like to hear everyone's perspective and personal experience at their end.

Personally I would chose what my DW and I chose when we were looking for a place. Higher pay scale and lower cost of living. There are places like that around.

If I HAD to choose one of the choices, I would go for the low pay/low COL. Usually for an individuals COL, the biggest expense is housing. No matter how much you buy online, you just cannot overcome the difference in housing costs, even with a higher pay scale.

Ultimately, aren't you asking, How much disposable income will I have in a given city? For me that raises the question, Is higher disposable income the only factor in making me happy? For me, the answer is no.

I could move to someplace like Waterloo, IA or Laredo, TX or Greenville, MS and have an immediate, say, 20% cut in the cost of living. Even if I were to find employment in these cities that paid as well as I am paid here, I would not be happy in these cities for many reasons. I am not picking on these 3 cities. I have been to them all, but have no relatives or friends in either, and what I know about them in terms of weather, vibe, crime, education and cultural opportunities to name a few, I like where I am much better.

I once knew a guy who relocated to a city based on the fact that it had the lowest cost of living. He was miserable there, he lasted less than a year.

The screening questions I used to move to my current location were, Where would I find the best quality of life for me and my family? Can I get employment there? Once I am employed, can I afford to live there? When considering "affordability", how much does it take to maintain the lifestyle I want to live?

High salary/high cost of living areas offer more. There's that saying "You get what you pay for." For us, it's having a nice house with a yard, but being a short train ride away from the greatest/biggest city in the country.

I always thought starting off with a high pay in an area with a high cost of living would help you out in the long run. (That's why you always see NY/NJ/CT/MA people move pretty much where ever they want when they retire.)

It doesn't matter. What matters is how long do you have to work to say, buy a pair of shoes or loaf of bread. Check out the wages and prices of goods in the sixties compared to now and you will see it takes about the same time of work to buy the same products.

I always thought starting off with a high pay in an area with a high cost of living would help you out in the long run. (That's why you always see NY/NJ/CT/MA people move pretty much where ever they want when they retire.)

That's true. When my husband and I retire years from now as teachers, we'll be retiring with enough money to move wherever we want due to the high teaching salaries here.

High salary/high cost of living areas offer more. There's that saying "You get what you pay for." For us, it's having a nice house with a yard, but being a short train ride away from the greatest/biggest city in the country.

I totally agree. Basic amenities across the board are about the same (groceries, clothing)

Gasoine prices are usually higher in "the High Cost of Living" areas, but if upi live in an area like Southern California, your heating bills are not has high.

All told I would rather be back in NY or CA than stuck in Missouri like I am now.

I totally agree. Basic amenities across the board are about the same (groceries, clothing)

Gasoine prices are usually higher in "the High Cost of Living" areas, but if upi live in an area like Southern California, your heating bills are not has high.

All told I would rather be back in NY or CA than stuck in Missouri like I am now.

There's a reason why these places cost more. They're worth it.

But yet the southerners on here say you can do/get the same things in southern cities that you can get in places like NYC...lol. I keep telling them there's a reason why prices are higher here. If you look at the Long Island board, those who moved down to TX and NC moved down there for the cheaper cost of living. They said they realized that the saying "you get what you pay for" is true. The town/city services you get here surpass most places in the country because we pay premium prices for it. Moderator cut: insulting

Last edited by Bo; 01-09-2010 at 02:43 PM..
Reason: Stick to discussing facts and avoid drawing conclusions about groups of members w/the opposite opinion.

But yet the southerners on here say you can do/get the same things in southern cities that you can get in places like NYC...lol. I keep telling them there's a reason why prices are higher here. If you look at the Long Island board, those who moved down to TX and NC moved down there for the cheaper cost of living. They said they realized that the saying "you get what you pay for" is true. The town/city services you get here surpass most places in the country because we pay premium prices for it. Moderator cut: see comment

Its because you guys are taxed more. Ill take southern cities that don't tax as much and you have more financial freedom. Southern cities are true american cities. Northern cities are wanna be European cities. If you want the European lifestyle go move there instead of settling for a half ass version of it. I want to live in a true american city thats why i live in a southern city.

Last edited by Bo; 01-09-2010 at 02:41 PM..
Reason: updating quote to match original

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